


the cold floor

by celestial_hieroglyphs



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff without Plot, M/M, actually i dont even know if this counts as fluff, almost angsty! but not quite, maybe not, maybe this is fabian having a crisis and riz doing his best to quietly comfort him, my niche is characters having complex chats while dancing around their feelings, spoilers for season 1 and lowkey out of character but. we out here yknow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-19 16:07:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22213600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_hieroglyphs/pseuds/celestial_hieroglyphs
Summary: Fabian can't sleep while Aguefort's watch has stopped time. Riz happens to be feeling pretty restless too.
Relationships: Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 3
Kudos: 110





	the cold floor

Nobody brought a sleeping bag- mostly because they'd figured this was either a fight they'd demolish same as Coach Daybreak or a fight that would give them a more permanent rest. Adaine, though, was ever helpful with her jacket, pulling out a few.

Fabian refused one, muttering something reminiscent of stoicism. 

True to this, once even Fig and Gorgug retired, Fabian endured. 

Fabian endured without complaint, just as he had with Dayne, just as he had with his father, just as he had with his father's death, just as he had with the world of heavy that was his father's legacy.

He curled his letterman jacket under his head and tried to forget his charred California King bed. It felt bittersweet; a jacket he hadn't earned from a man he'd never have another chance to prove himself to, and it wasn't much help against the hard floor.

The _hard_ floor, the _cold_ floor _,_ the pit of _dread_ , the smell of _sweat_ and _blood_ , the resounding sound of _crystal shattering on pavement_ , the thunder of Gorgug's drumming, the _weight of the world_ , the hammering of his heart, the _enormity_ of it all, the fire in his lungs and the eye not in his head and the almost immovable weight on his chest and Riz.

and Riz, grounding in his lack of gravity and gravitas alike, laying some distance across from him with wide open eyes.

"You good, Fabian?"

"I'm fine, the Ball," He scoffed, and- for that split second- annoyance, aloofness, and high school politics took hold of his head again.

It was prom night and he was in a stained shirt and jeans, while The Ball was in his standard semi-formal attire: a collared shirt, a clip on tie, suspenders and pressed pants.

It was prom night and he was talking to The Ball.

It was prom night and The Ball was lying closer to him than he'd been a second ago.

He scooted back slightly and propped himself up on his elbow.

It was prom night and he had just watched his house go up in flames, lost a fight against a beam, killed his father, lost an eye, and nearly died.

He moved forward imperceptibly. "How are you?"

"Um," Riz answered aptly. "... Fine, I guess. Today, and this week- No, this whole year has been. Fucking insane."

Fabian laughed, "Oh really?"

"Yes! Have you ever thought about how fucking insane this year has been? It might just be me, but, it's-it's been a lot! People started calling me The Ball-"

"I think that was your destiny being fulfilled, actually."

"-I disagree. I have _friends_ now, I drank for the first time, we-we stole a car! We've killed, like, so many people, some of them school staff! We went to jail! I-I found out my dad was like, a spy. And, uh, that's a whole other thing we've had this year, daddy issues!"

Fabian gave a nonverbal expression of utter agreement, between a huff and a laugh.

"Oh, right... Uh, sorry, man."

"Hah! No worries, ah... Dead dads club?"

Riz's eyebrows shot up. Then, he gave in, letting out a laugh that tore out of his throat more like a shout. "I mean- hell yeah, Dead Dads Club! But, uh, do you-like, genuinely, are you, uh- good? Do you wanna talk?"

Fabian hummed and sucked some air through his teeth. "I'm always good. It's just been, uh, rough, today. Yeah. Have I- have I told you-no, well... I found my papa, he was... alive, but about to die. I-I knew he'd rather die by my hand, like his father before him, than whatever Kalvaxis had sent after him so I-I... I took the Sword of the _Seacasters_ and put it through his heart! It felt right, even heroic, in the moment, I felt heroic jumping out of the window through an explosion and landing on the Hangman, felt like he would've _loved_ it, but... I... _I_ killed him, I killed my own father. It's..."

He trailed off, realizing how far he'd drifted into his own head. When Fabian refocused, Riz was inches from him. Fabian rarely gazed into his friend's eyes, a given, but he knew everyone's vaguely. Riz's especially, for reasons he doesn't care to linger on. 

[They're these yellow saucers that suit him well, mischievous and warm, with black slit pupils. Or- normally they're slit, but right now they're a similar size to his iris, reflecting all the light in the room- maybe in the world- back at him. ]

His jaw stayed where it was on his last word, which was down. He picked it back up and turned onto his back, utterly ignoring the few seconds of silence he'd spent admiring his friend's eyes. It was a nice respite from thinking about his father and... everything that'd come with him, but so alien he jumped back into his own ranting.

"Anyway! I've-I've always been so sure what my life is gonna be like- just like my papa's but even better, carrying on his legacy! But, now? He-he said he was proud of me but I know just as he knew that I'll never truly live up to everything he did. And I-I just-I feel like my world's fucking crumbling, because it's only now hitting me, my dad is fully _dead_. I'm never gonna hear him up at ungodly hours swordfighting with one of his compatriots, never going to find him in the crow's nest again humming some fucking shanty or other. He's gone... God, sorry for dumping all this on you."

Fabian felt worse, remembering Riz's father had died, how much hurt he must've gone through, and now Fabian was here _complaining_ to _him._ If it didn't stir up unpleasant memories, then it must've certainly made Riz hate him.

Then, Riz scooted upward and rested his head on Fabian's arm as an indication of **something** along the lines of forgiveness or sympathy. "Don't worry, man." Fabian sighed deeply, suddenly unable to move. No gaudy hand gestures to distract, no constant movement to drown out his mind... He opened his mouth and went on like nothing had happened. 

"Today _has_ been crazy. We're-we're fighting a fucking dragon! Hah! We're sleeping in a gym, sure, but at the foot of an actual dragon, that's so-" Fabian froze. Riz interrupted his train of thought- and speech- as he shifted and laid his head softly on Fabian's rib cage. He hadn't noticed how ragged his breathing had gotten and tried to settle it.

"It's, uh, cold in here." Riz mumbled lamely.

Huh.

It... wasn't as comfortable as his Cali King bed. It wasn't as familiar as a luxurious pillow under his arm and another under his head. It wasn't as expected as a restrained but fond clap on the back.

It was enough, maybe just and maybe more. "Is this okay?" Riz asked.

"Uh." Good job. "Yeah!"

He was tense, and by what seemed like a minuscule amount of weight on Fabian's chest, he wasn't actually laying his head there as much as offering it. Offering company, offering comfort.

Something about everything, about the familiarity in spite of novelty, about the Ball-about Riz- about the comfort sought and given freely was... a lot.

And that was amazing and horrible and awfully distracting from Riz, which was the worst offense of this onslaught of terrible relief. So he harshly pushed it out of his head and gently pulled Riz toward him.

Riz laid his head down.

Fabian laid his head down too, on the cold floor that he was beginning to be able to ignore.

"It _is_ pretty cold in here," Fabian murmured.


End file.
